Photography, Travel

Waterfalls, Smokey Sunsets, and Sunrise Reflections at Mount Ranier National Park

A Week in Photos

The smoke was so thick when my sister and I arrived at Mount Ranier National Park last Friday that we couldn’t even see the mountain. This did not bode well for our astrophotography weekend workshop which we had come for. But we consoled ourselves with homemade blackberry pie ala mode, checked into our little cabin and geared up for the first evening session.

We met our instructor, Ross Schram von Haupt, and headed up towards our first site. The following photos are all just iPhone 12 Pro Max photos since I haven’t had time yet to do any processing of the photos from my Nikon z7 and z7II. All of the weekend photos on my big cameras were shot in RAW format, which requires a bit of editing in Lightroom. But I thought you might enjoy seeing a preview of some of the highlights.

The smoke began to settle as the sun went down, and a few of the shots of Mount Ranier from over a field of wildflowers turned out to be pretty good. The smoke actually enhanced the colors of the sunset a bit.

We did have a successful first attempt at shooting the Milky Way and then we stumbled down the mountain in the dark with our headlamps and photography gear and headed back to the cabin for a well-deserved night’s sleep.

The next morning, my sister and I headed out to do a bit of exploration of the park, which is massive. I had no idea of the size or grandeur of this park until we arrived. From here, you can also see Mount Saint Helen’s National Park, which I hear is equally incredible.

We stopped for a few shots of Narada Falls, then drove across the park, to check into the next cabin where we would spend a couple nights (the park is so big that we needed to change locations).

Our astrophotography shoot that night, which was supposed to be an epic shot of the milky way over Mount Ranier from Sunrise Point, ended up being cancelled, after we waited and waited for the smoke to clear. A little disappointed, we arrived back at our cabin around midnight.

The next morning we woke at 4 a.m. (astrophotography and sunrise shoots are a little exhausting) to attempt a shot of Ranier over Little Tipsoo Lake, an iconic location for a sunrise photo. We were joined by two deer, who ambled across the meadow in front of us. When we showed up, it was still completely dark and we weren't sure if we would even be able to see the mountain because of the smoke.

But, lo and behold, her silhouette emerged from the night and we had a bit of blue sky to frame her.

We also took a few shots, from across the street, of Big Tipsoo Lake.

After a nice morning nap, we headed over to the Crystal Mountain Ski area and took the gondola to the top for lunch at the restaurant up there. What a view!

The smoke was gathering again, as you can see in the photo below, but it was still a gorgeous spot for lunch. You can see the braided river, formed by glacial deposits, trickling down from the Mountain.

We had a relaxed day, but we decided to wake up at 3 a.m. and drive back up the mountain ourselves (the workshop was done) to try to get a star picture with Mount Ranier. Bleary-eyed, we dragged ourselves out of bed and made our way up to Sunset Point in the dark. We knew we were supposed to hike up some steps and into a meadow, but it was pitch black when we got there and we couldn’t see a thing without our headlamps.

We’d been taught the technique to get the shot, but hadn't had a chance to put it all into action yet, so I was amazed when I randomly pointed the camera in the general direction of the mountain and did a test shot and realized that the whole weekend had been worth it, despite the earlier smoke, because the stars were out and it was gorgeous.

We shot until about 6 a.m., watching the mountain wake up. She first blushed pink, then golden, then translucent pearl. All around us, the birds began to twitter and the clouds flamed to life with the sunrise.

That sunrise, on the mountain, with my sister, was one of those epic moments in life. Our dad was a photographer (and a philosophy professor), so we grew up trekking into nature, watching him take photos. He died about twelve years ago, but we both felt like we could sense his presence with us that morning.

I hope that you all had lovely weeks. While I normally publish my “week in photos” in SNAPSHOTS, this week went a little long for SNAPSHOTS word limit, so I’m publishing it in my new publication, Butterfly Dreams, a home for my musings and photograpy. It’s so fun to share about the week and to read about so many other photographers’ weeks around the world.

You might want to check out a few of the others who participate:

Dennett Anne Bonfert Eileen Vorbach Lisa Bolin Tracy Aston David Wade Chambers Mia Verita Kim Zuch Barbara Radisavljevic LensAfield Barbara Dalton Sasha Meyer Susan Alison Diana Lotti Barbara Dalton K. Barrett June Nguyen Juan O. Aguilera and more…

Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).

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Photos and story ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.